RollerNut

More testing has also become available and at a faster rate.

I have, I have a personal friend that lives and runs a business in Australia. The Australians aren’t really any different than Americans.

The 13th is on a Friday.... foreshadowing?

Save for Fury for later in the day, the line moves extremely fast for Fury. The rides may want to ride early are: Electrospin Ricochet Flying Cobras Vortex Mountain Gliders maybe If you will be staying after dusk I recommend waiting until last for Copperhead Strike.

There is a bunch of hotels around Carowinds Blvd, there is a few fast food places to eat, Culver’s and Cracker Barrel. Enough gas stations too. If you go past the park then you will see industrial warehouses.

disregard I did the math wrong, I forgot about Scooby-Doo.

What an odd large purchase for a tiny little water park and family fun center. I wouldn’t bat an eyelash if it was a flat ride or kiddy coaster. Being that we are talking about an RMC Raptor it raises questions: Where are they getting the money? Is this a part of an expansion that includes more dry ride? What is their expected impact on Attendance? Did/will they ask for tax incentives? Are they going to be able to keep this running? And my final statement, someone says Go Big or Go Home!!

Disney tried to buy Knotts in the mid 90s.

It was far more convoluted than that. To make a long story into a short story. Improper maintenance for a decade+ lead to the entire structure needing replaced, Carowinds spent 5/7th of the money required to do so before deciding it wasn’t worth the last two million in 2013. The water park expansion was after Carowinds gave up on Thunder Road.

As far as I know it never left Neverland Ranch

Probably one of the roller coaster “museums.”

Right.... Hasn’t anyone learned you can’t trust what amusement park’s PR and Social Media says yet. While it could be true that there is no plans for The Vortex site, I highly doubt it. What the park means is they have no plans that are far enough along that they can announce them. Much like Volcano at KD, this wasn’t a last minute decision to remove a major attraction because they discovered a major problem. Planning for Copperhead Strike started in 2016 during planning for the 2017 County Fair expansion, Carowinds originally intended to expand the original County Fair in 2017 but plans changed when planning started for Copperhead Strike so they moved the 2017 expansion to the Carolina Cobra plaza. Hindsight is 20/20, parks change their plans sometimes at the last minute. If Kings Island follows the Fury 325/Thunder Road in 2015 and Copperhead Strike in 2019 timeline similar to Carowinds then y’all may be looking at Vortex closing 2019, Orion opening in 2020 and another coaster in 2022 but more likely in 2023.

Unless they cut down trees for the removal of Vortex, the turnaround and lift will take them longer because they will have do it in smaller sections. Firehawk and Son of Beast had large sections pulled over. Vortex likely had some section done like this but the turnaround and part of lift will likely be done with a crane and excavator with claw like attachment. Cutting down trees would add costs and likely be a separate (sub)contractor.

Comparing Kings Island to Coney Island is now apples to oranges. One has water park and rides while the other has a pool and a few slides. I won’t really call them a water park....yet but I suspect that is the route they are going to take.

It will depend on whether you like their events and the people that go. Whether you even go to the events, how many you go to. How many parks you go to that offer discounts. I was a member of ACE for years but never got to go to any of the events(My fault not theirs) so I let it expire. I joined Coaster Crew in 2015 and went to their Carowinds event, I then went to ACE’s C3 at Carowinds that year as a guest of friend. I personally like the less structure event and people of the Coaster Crew than the larger more structured event and less respectful people of ACE. I am trying to only share my experience not to knock anyone. Coaster Crew is a smaller group.

Dang, I am glad I got to ride it this season. It was my favorite flat ride of the park.

What kind of shoes was he wearing.

Arcade and pinball machines are normally in the $3,000-$5,000 for used cabinets. Now if you are talking about scale models like Arcade 1Up then yes $300-500 but those aren’t the same quality as a full size arcade cabinet. If I ever finish my living room remodel then I want an Arcade 1Up machine. I would love to have a full size arcade cabinet/pinball machine but I will never have that kind of money.

Wooden coasters have to have more supports to spread out the weight and forces because wood is a weaker material than steel. I doubt Vortex is worth getting RMC’d or Steel Phantom’d.

Carowinds started selling those before they close Thunder Road and they still sell them today. CoasterDynamix said they were only doing one run of the Thunder Road one.....

No, it wasn’t https://themeparkuniversity.com/theme-parks-101/lego-company-set-to-own-legoland-parks-merlin-entertainments/

Merlin was bought by LEGO.... Cedar Fair not issuing a statement is a better sign that the rumor is false than coming out and saying it is false.

Interesting observation.... Next season KI’s oldest steel coaster will be Adventure Express built in 1991.... Oldest wooden coasters Racer and Woodstock Express from 1972.... But weren’t steel coaster supposed to be cheaper to maintain?

Carowinds removed Thunder Road in 2015, the same year Fury 325 was added. A water park expansion filled part of the spot then Copperhead Strike filled a another small chuck of Thunder Road’s spot. Vortex’s case is different since it isn’t being removed for waterpark. I hope KI once again saves the station and reuses it.

I personally feel like this is just a PR spin. The policies aren’t new, they are just communicating more. I guess it is a start but given the crowds that SCarowinds attracts I don’t believe that it will be effective. I also believe that the “improvements that the guests can’t see.” Is just a buff. It is kind of a former workplace of mine saying they have cameras in the parking but when something actually happen in the parking lot they came asking us to report anything we knew. We later discovered there were no cameras btw.